NEED HELP ASAP, I bought an EF with a brand new alternator and battery, it was driving fine for the one week I was driving it. anyways, one day Im on the road and I notice that the lights start to dim out and car just dies, so we jump start it and 30 seconds later it dies again. could there be a wire grouding out somewhere? HELP please.

 

Check your wires and grounds, make sure all connections are tight.

 

you may have a bad alternator

 

He's correct. May be a bad alt or battery right out of the box.

Other than that it could be a parasitic draw.

Any aftermarket electronics in the car (head unit, amp, LED's, fender signals, aftermarket mirrors, headlights or tails, etc)?

Anything not working (lights, radio, accessories, etc.)?

 

you have to take a volt meter and see if it's charging.

batt should be 10-12 volts with engine off.... 13-14 with engine running.

If it's above 13v with engine running, then your alternator is OK.

personally, i've had both bad alternators, and bad batteries pretty much straight out of the box. (sometimes it takes weeks or months for the failure to show its ugly head) Just because they are new parts doesn't mean you shouldn't test them again. Car parts nowadays are junk.

 

Truer words were never spoken.

 

passenger side tailights doesnt work, but it works as a parking light. theres an aftermarket deck as well but it works fine.

we tested both, they are fine.

 

bad battery terminal/terminals

 

I'd guess its a bad alternator. If it lasted that long its because your alternator wouldn't recharge the battery and it used all the juice. Now, that your battery has been drained you will probably need a new one of those as well. Start with a alternator, jump the car when it runs turn unhook the cables and let it run about 5 minutes on its own power. Turn off the car, and try to restart it, if nothing get a new battery if its good you're fine.

 

May be a parasitic draw then.

Make double sure absolutely everything in the car is off. Dis-connect the negative battery cable. Take a test light and and clip the lead to the negative battery terminal. Now, touch the point of the test light to the negative cable. If the light comes on then you have a parasitic draw somewhere. I would start with the broken taillight(s).

 

parasitic draw is usually found in these cars with the electronic door latch/seatbelt chime mechanism inside the door's jamb side.....You can try to locate which side that is faulty, or you can just unplug the wires that go to the lock latch inside the door panel on both sides and be done...good luck.

 

X2

 

Both of these are right on.